This invention relates to bulk packaging and more particularly to bulk packaging improvements directed toward elimination of a pallet support or like means.
In large volume, automated, secondary packaging installations, it is conventional to unite groups of articles such as containers in boxes or cartons at a charging station, then transfer such loaded cartons to a stacking station where they are grouped in layers and piled vertically on a pallet or other support, and then to convey the supported load to an adjacent load-unitizing station where, for example, a thin film envelope is shrunk about the plural layers to form a unitized load. In such an environment, the support for the stacked cartons serves to stabilize and hold the load together during conveying between the stacking and load-unitizing stations, as well as during any lifting movement where a change of elevation may be involved. Of course, as is known, the encapsulating film can be shrunk around the pallet also when the latter is the support for the load and such palleted, shrunk-wrapped unit forms the product to be shipped to a customer. However, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,462, a palletless load has many advantages, perhaps the most significant being the marked reduction in the rather substantial cost of load-stabilizing materials. In addition, though loads of the type described in such patent are shipped without a pallet, it appears that a pallet or other means of support is nevertheless required for the load before and during shrink-wrapping.